Hi everyone. I'm Shar and I'm new to this site, but very pleased to have found it as the Mac support site does not seem to be working for me.

I am currently trying to get my student portfolios finished and the slowness of my Mac is driving me crazy and sometime I just have to walk away. I have had the same problem for ages but it has become a real problem during the end of school year when I have deadlines. iPhoto takes aaaages to open and then seems to stall (or freeze other apps). I generally have to force quit as I do with all the Office Works for Mac and iTunes. Any idea what the problem may be?

I know nothing about the technical side of computers. Nothing. I have copied down my specs but they mean nothing to me. If you are able to help me with my question (for which I would be very grateful) could you please address me as you would a 5 year old. I wont be offended

There are a few things to start with:
1. consider buying more RAM (if you tell me if it's a MacBook/MacBook Pro or iMac and it's rough age I can point you in the right direction)
2. You should always try and keep 10% free disk space. So deleting old downloads/documents and installing old software you don't use can help free up space.
3. Download Onyx for Mountain Lion. Install it and run everything on the Automation tab
4. Reset your PRAM (About NVRAM and PRAM)

External hard disk acquisition addict - but admitting the problem is the first step to a robust backupPlease use the reputation system if you think you've been helped - top right of this post

I strongly suspect that the OP has one or a combination of the following issues:

1. Doesn't actually quit apps, just "closes" them, meaning they are sucking up resources.
2. Not enough RAM (this I know for a fact is the case) for stuff like large picture/music/etc libraries
3. Probably a very full hard drive, and possibly one that's starting to fail.

1) Uninstall Mackeeper ASAP. That program causes more problems than it solves and most of the Mac tech world considers it junkware and a borderline scam. Instructions for uninstalling it are here.

2) As has already been stated, you need more RAM. I took the liberty of inputing your model in that link provided above and your purchasing options are here. 8GB is recommended but at the minimum, you need at least 4. Any one of these kits will work with your Mac.

2GB is not a whole lot of RAM so make sure you actually quit your applications rather than just closing the window. To quit an application, hit ⌘q on the keyboard or go to the app menu at the top next to the file menu and select quit.